Summer School

'I didn't expect to see you again,' she said. 'I hope you offered to walk her home.'

'She asked me to, so I did. She's staying in town.'

'Did you give her a goodnight kiss?' she asked, smiling.

'Yeah,' he said morosely, 'and that was all. German girls are so frigid.'

Beth felt herself bristling. 'I expect you thought she owed you a feel of her tits at least.'

Sam blushed. 'Not necessarily.'

'God, you boys are so...so...' Beth couldn't think of the word. She was aware she was a little drunk. Sam stood in front of her looking morose. She'd had such a good time, she couldn't allow it to be spoilt now. 'Come on,' she said, taking his hand. 'The band will finish soon. Let's dance.'

He allowed himself to be led onto the dance floor, only a little embarrassed at dancing with a woman old enough to be his mother. After all, she did look pretty good in that dress. She was a pretty good dancer too. Beth, for her part, had lost most of her inhibitions - thanks to retsina and the Greek family - and she was getting quite lost in the music. It was also flattering to be dancing with a handsome young boy. Why not, she asked herself. I'm not over the hill yet.

The music came to an end and Sam started to move back to their table. Beth held him by the hand. 'No, let's dance some more. Let's enjoy ourselves.'

Sam realised she was a bit drunk. 'OK,' he said, smiling.

The next number was a slow one. Sam made no move to take Beth in his arms, so she took his hands and placed them on her waist, draping her own over his shoulders. 'That's better,' she said. They moved silently to the music. She smiled tipsily at him and let her head fall on his shoulder. He held her a bit closer, his arms going around her waist. She felt the slight touch of his growing erection and thought, no, definitely not over the hill yet. I can still turn men on.

That was the band's last number, despite lots of complaints from the dancers. Beth and Sam began to walk back to Kelly's villa. Once out of the small town, the road was unlit and they had to find their way by the dim light of a quarter moon. Swaying slightly, Beth put her arm through Sam's.

'Are you drunk?' he asked.

'A bit,' she admitted. 'But not enough not to know what I'm doing,' she added quickly, in case he should get any ideas.

'What's that supposed to mean? I'm not going to try and kiss you or anything.'

'What a pity,' she said with a smile.

'I don't get you,' he said. 'One minute you're slapping my face for a touch I didn't give you, the next you're making out you want it.'

She laughed. 'That's another thing you have to learn about women. We're very unpredictable.'

'You don't say,' he said.

'That's part of our charm, don't you think? You don't get it easy, you know. You have to work us out. You have to learn how to tell when a woman is serious and when she's joking.'

'When a woman says no and means no and when she says no and means yes?'

'No, not that,' said Beth firmly. 'We always mean what we say. It's just that sometimes we prefer to say what we mean in a more subtle way.'

'Yeah, so subtle we can never understand it.'

'Oh, men,' sighed Beth. She really was drunk. 'You always want things to be black and white, cut and dried. You always want to know 'where you stand'.'

'So what's wrong with that?'

'This is how you have to think of women,' said Beth, the drink making her think she was being amazingly articulate. 'There's a basic uncertainty at the heart of a woman, particularly at the heart of a woman's relationship with a man. You'll never change that. You have to learn to embrace it.' She strode on in the moonlight, dragging Sam with her. She was beginning to enjoy her role as tutor to her friend's son.

The villa was in darkness when they reached it. In the kitchen Beth put her finger to her lips. 'Your mum's probably in bed. We'd better be quiet.'

'So no midnight skinny dipping,' said Sam, smiling to show that he wasn't serious.

'Afraid not,' said Beth. 'You can give me a goodnight kiss though. If you want to, that is.'

'Sure,' he said flatly.

He leant towards her and gave her a perfunctory kiss on the lips.

'Is that how you kissed that German girl? No wonder she wouldn't let you go any further.'

'Jesus,' he almost shouted in frustration. 'Can't I do anything right?'

'Shush. You'll wake your mother. Come here and put your arms around me.'

Sam put his arms awkwardly round Beth's waist. He was a good three or four inches taller than her. A good height, thought Beth as she angled her face up to his. She took his face in her hands and placed her lips on his. Gradually she increased the pressure. The feel of his lips was lovely, soft and yet hard at the same time. Had it really been so long since she had properly kissed someone? She could feel him responding, opening his lips to let her tongue through. She could feel his tongue wanting to explore her mouth. She let it come into her. It felt naughtily sensual. She could feel his breath coming in short bursts. She could also feel his stiffening cock against her abdomen. She clasped him tighter, making an encouraging noise in her throat.

Disappointingly he ended the kiss and moved away. 'Sorry,' he mumbled.

'What for? I was just beginning to enjoy it.'

He blushed scarlet and looked down. 'Well, if you don't know...'

She realised he was embarrassed at his erection. 'Oh that. There's no need to be sorry about that. It's flattering, in a way.'

He mumbled something she couldn't make out.

'Anyway,' she said. 'Now try kissing me.'

'Really?'

'Of course. You want to learn, don't you?'

'Yeah, but...'

'Come on then,' she said. 'Remember, gently at first, then firmer, then if you sense she's responding, you can really go for it.'

Sam was a quick learner. He quite took Beth's breath away with his kiss. Eventually she was squirming slightly in his arms, actually trying to feel more of his now hard cock against her. Oh God, it felt so good to turn a man on like that. She quickly broke off the kiss and pushed him away. 'That's enough. Time for bed.'

She caught the look of disappointment on his face then she was gone. She quickly climbed the stairs to the bedroom and closed the door. She found she was breathing heavily. She leant against the door and tried to ignore the trembling in her legs. In the large double bed, Kelly was snoring peacefully. She dowsed her face with cold water in the basin and changed into her nightdress. It was hot again. She went across to the window to catch a little of the slightly cooler night air. The window was open but there was a mesh across the opening to keep out mosquitoes. She looked down at the pool, a sheet of steel in the moonlight, and saw Sam striding towards it, stripping off his t-shirt.

He glanced up at her window, but Beth knew he couldn't see her behind the mesh. He slipped out of his shorts and stood naked at the end of the pool. Beth could see his cock, hard and erect. It looked splendid. Poor thing, she thought, he obviously wants to cool off in more ways than one. He dived into the pool and swam a couple of lengths. Beth stood transfixed at the window. She knew she should go to bed and leave him to it, but somehow she couldn't wait to see that lovely body with that lovely cock again. He climbed out of the pool. Beth was disappointed to see that his cock was now flaccid and limp. He gave himself a cursory dry with a towel and flung himself on a sun-bed. Even now, Beth couldn't tear her eyes away.

As she watched, Sam stretched languidly on the sun-bed and closed his eyes. She could see his cock lying sadly along his thigh. How she longed to go down and take it in her hand, to make it grow hard. She tried to tear herself away from the window, but she couldn't. After a minute or two, it seemed to her that it was growing. At first she thought it was just a trick of the light, or the fact that she had been staring at it for too long. No, it was definitely growing. What must he be thinking of, she smiled to herself. As she watched, his hand crept to the growing cock and grasped it around the shaft. Within seconds it had grown to a fine size, hard and erect. She could see the round head shining in the moonlight.

Her own hand crept to the join of her legs, over her nightdress. She pressed gently. Sam was stroking his cock firmly now. She could see the head appearing and disappearing in his hand. She found the cleft of her pussy through her nightdress and stroked herself. She was amazed at how turned on she was. At this rate, she might come before he did.

'What are you doing?' came a sleepy voice from the bed.

Beth jumped guiltily. Her hand leapt from her pussy. 'Just getting some air. I couldn't sleep.'

Kelly was hardly awake. 'Come to bed,' she mumbled, turning over.

With a last glance at Sam enjoying himself by the pool, Beth turned from the window and climbed onto the bed. Lying staring at the ceiling, she wondered if she could continue masturbating in bed but decided against it. She didn't want to run the risk of Kelly waking completely and guessing what she was doing. That would be too mortifying. She lay awake for a long time thinking of Sam and his kisses and of him lying naked by the pool.

The next day, Kelly was eager to learn how the evening had progressed. Had Beth managed to teach Sam anything about how to deal with girls? Beth told her about his attempts with the German girl and how she had tried to steer him in the right direction. She left out the bits about getting tipsy and teaching him how to give a proper goodnight kiss. She also left out the bit about watching him by the pool in the moonlight. Kelly seemed satisfied. She announced that she had to go back to England for a few days. Her daughter was ill. It wasn't serious but she felt the need to go and look after her. Beth wondered if she should cut short her holiday too, but Kelly wouldn't hear of it. 'Of course not. You stay and enjoy yourself. And see what else you can do with Sam,' she added. 'I'm counting on you to turn him into a gentleman.'

It was shortly after Sam left to see his mother onto the bus that the German girl arrived at the villa.

'Come and wait with me,' said Beth. 'Sam won't be long.'

The girl's name was Inge. She was staying in town with a friend's family, also from Germany.

'Sam said you were leaving today,' said Beth.

Inge blushed. 'That's what I told him. It was if I didn't like him.'

'And you speak good English,' said Beth.

'Oh yes, I told him I didn't also if I didn't like him.'

Beth smiled. 'You're a clever girl.'

'Thank you,' said Inge.

When Sam returned, Beth spent half an hour with them by the pool then announced she was going to her room for an afternoon nap. 'I'll leave you to it,' she said, giving a wink to Sam out of sight of Inge. Upstairs in her room, she pulled a chair over to the window and sat down, hidden by the wire mesh.

Inge was dark-haired and pretty, not at all a typical German mädchen, more petite than most. She appeared attracted to Sam, looking at him intently as they chatted. He, like the shy boy he was, looked at her hardly at all. It didn't surprise Beth when he suggested they swim in the pool, pulling his t-shirt over his head and pushing his shorts down to reveal his trunks. Inge stood and shrugged the straps of her sun-dress off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground, revealing a shapely body clad in a flowery bikini.

He did a perfect dive into the pool and swam a couple of lengths under water, while Inge watched admiringly from the edge. She seemed reluctant to go in. Perhaps she was hoping that Sam would push her in, like Beth had. In any event, she slipped into the water and swam unhurriedly over to where Sam had emerged, shaking the water from his hair. As she approached him, he swam a couple more lengths. She turned to watch. To Beth, it looked as if he was trying to get away from her, as if he were afraid to be too near her. Couldn't he see that Inge wanted to have some kind of contact with him? When he emerged at the other end of the pool, Inge slipped out of sight under the water. Sam looked around, but evidently couldn't tell where she was. A moment later her head emerged right next to him. Clever girl, thought Beth.

Sam laughed and the next moment they were splashing each other, climbing on an inflatable armchair and capsizing each other, doing the things children do when they get in water, laughing and shouting. At one point, Inge came up behind Sam and pushed him down into the water. The next moment he came up in front of her, grabbed her in a bear hug and almost threw her in the air. She came down with a scream and a mighty splash. He laughed, but she didn't immediately reappear. He started to look around him, calling her name in a voice that was almost beginning to panic. Out of his sight, Beth saw Inge's head appear above water. She crept silently up to him, then leapt on him. But he had seen her out of the corner of his eye and turned at the last minute. They ended up in an embrace. Inge looked at him. He leant forward and kissed her. Beth could see that Inge welcomed the kiss and kissed him back. It seemed to go on for a long time, but when they eventually parted, as if by mutual agreement, Sam looked at her for a moment, then fell back in the water and back-stroked to the steps and got out of the pool. Inge watched him reach for his towel then followed him.

As they stood drying themselves, they didn't talk. It was as if Sam had been struck dumb by the kiss, as if he didn't know what to do next. Inge kept looking at him, but Beth could tell she didn't know how to make Sam less shy. He sat on his sun-bed. She sat on another facing him. He lay down. She looked at him for a few moments then lay down too. Silence descended. Beth decided nothing else was going to happen and lay on her own bed. She couldn't sleep. After she had read for an hour, she went down to the kitchen and made herself a drink. She went out to the pool area expecting to see both Sam and Inge, but Sam was alone.

'Where's Inge?'

'She went back to her place,' said Sam without opening his eyes.

'Didn't you invite her to stay for dinner?'

He opened his eyes. 'I didn't think of it. Sorry.'

'Don't apologise to me,' she said. 'Sam, you're hopeless. Don't you realise the girl likes you?'

'Does she?'

'Of course she does. Why do you think she came all the way up here? Did you talk to her?'

'I've told you, I can't think of anything to say.'

Beth laughed. 'What am I going to do with you? If you can't talk, ask her questions. Don't talk about yourself unless she asks you. And don't sound bored when you do. That will only make her think she's boring you. Sound interested in her. Be interested in her. The quickest way to a woman's heart is to find her fascinating. Got it?'

'OK, OK.'

'Good. Now go down to her place and invite her back here for dinner.'

He sat up. 'I can't do that. I'll look like an idiot.'

'Nonsense. Just ask her. If you don't, I will.'

'No, no,' said Sam quickly. 'That would look even worse. She'd think I'm a complete kid.'

'Then you'd better get going, hadn't you?'

Beth was right. Inge was only too eager to come for dinner. She really liked Sam a lot, but was almost ready to give up on him after the silence of the afternoon. When he knocked on the door, she had decided to make one last effort and go and see him the next day. Now things were looking up. On the way to Kelly's villa, she put her hand in his and they walked back hand in hand. It was still mostly in silence, but it was a start.

They ate outside in the warmth of the evening. Beth engaged Inge in conversation and tried to involve Sam whenever she could. He tried, poor boy, but was so tongue-tied she felt she was losing the battle. It was only when Inge asked him direct questions that he spoke at all. In the end, Beth couldn't stand the awkwardness any longer and said she was going to bed.

Immediately Inge stood up. 'I should go too.'

'Not at all,' insisted Beth. 'It's still early. You two stay here and chat. Sam will see you home, won't you?'

'Course,' said Sam, not looking at Inge.

Beth busied herself in the kitchen, being sure to make a lot of noise so as not to make the young couple think they were being spied on, then went to her bedroom. There she took up her position behind the mesh screen. Looking down, she saw that Sam had gone to sit on one of the sun-beds and Inge had gone to sit beside him. Sam had a bottle of beer in his hand. Inge asked for it and he passed it to her. She took a swig from it, coughed and held her hand to her mouth, laughing. That seemed to break the ice a bit. Sam started talking. Beth couldn't hear what he was saying but it seemed to make Inge laugh. Soon they were chatting away. Beth looked on with pride. At last he's getting it, she thought.

Their chat went on for about half an hour. Beth dozed by the mesh, only waking up when Inge stood up. Evidently it was time to go. Sam stood up and, after an awkward pause, leaned forward and kissed the girl. Inge put her arms round his neck and they sank into a full-on snog. Hand-in-hand they walked to the gate and out of the villa. Beth went to bed with a feeling half of satisfaction, half of jealousy. She wondered if they would stop off on the way and have a grope. Probably not, knowing Sam. He wouldn't know how to progress from a kiss to anything more intimate, other than by grabbing the poor girl and frightening her away for good.

The next morning Beth went into town to do some shopping. When she came back Sam had taken up his usual position by the pool. Really he was a handsome boy, she thought, with his slim lean body and attractive bulge in his trunks. Lucky Inge. She put away the shopping, changed into a bikini and joined him by the pool.

'So how did it go with Inge?' she asked after a while.

'OK.'

'Just OK?'

'Fine,' he elaborated. 'She's just starting at Uni. Doing Engineering.'

'Good. That must have given you something to talk about.' She knew that Sam was keen on something called computing, but wasn't sure what it was.

'Yeah,' said Sam.

Beth realised that was probably the end of the conversation. Really, getting Sam to open up about anything was like getting blood out of a stone.

After a long silence, he suddenly said, 'Can I ask you something?'

'Of course.'

'Well, you know when you kiss a girl...I mean, when I kiss a girl...'

'Yes.' Beth tried to sound encouraging.

'Well, when I kiss a girl...I mean, how...I mean, what do I do next? I mean, how do I know what I should do next? I mean, how do you know...how do I know when the girl...you know, wants me to...?'

'You mean, how do you know when Inge wants you to go further than a kiss?'

'Yeah. And what exactly is going further? I mean, I don't expect she'll want me to go all the way.'

Beth laughed. 'I don't suppose she will. You've only just met her, after all.' She knew that wasn't how a lot of girls behaved these days, especially on holiday and under the influence of alcohol and sunshine, dropping their knickers as easily as they'd pick up a beer. But she sensed that Inge wasn't that kind of girl and Sam, it seemed, was sharp enough to realise it too. 'But she will want you to show a bit of passion. She'll want to know that you want her, even if she might seem reluctant.'

'That sounds complicated.'

'I never said it would be easy. You have to tread a delicate line between showing passion and outright aggression. You can't come across as a completely cold fish. Neither can you act like you only have one thing on your mind.'

'OK, but what do I actually do? I mean, I can tell myself to show passion yet not act like some monster, but that doesn't help me much.'

'You mean you want to know when you can touch her breasts?'